Publisher: Whitford Fine Art
Dimensions: 28.5 x 21.5 cm
“Can I reveal the splendours and agonies of life through space, colour, light, shape, line, confrontation, rhythm and inflections in the paint?” - Albert Irvin
This catalogue was made in conjunction with the first major posthumous exhibition of early works by and one of the best Abstract Expressionist artists this country has produced, Albert Irvin, OBE, RA.
The inner strength and subtle mystery contained within Irvin’s paintings are the driving forces behind this show.
Having started out in the 1950s as a figurative artist of the Kitchen Sink School of the London Group, Irvin managed to break free from its constraints after discovering Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko at a famous Tate exhibition in 1956 and reinvented himself as an exponent of a dazzlingly vigorous Abstract Expressionism, becoming one of Britain’s most respected abstract artists and a true colourist.
Irvin’s connection with the Royal Academy runs deep and was naturally elected an RA member in 1998. Yet, his paintings have the power to go beyond geographical borders with more than 60 museums and institutions worldwide owning examples of his work.
Whitford Fine Art presents a number of key works from the 1950s and 1960s directly from the Estate, paintings that Irvin himself was reluctant to part with and will finally allow collectors and the public at large to rediscover the power and beauty of this influential British artist.
